{mosimage}Maniratnam always proves that he is a MBA guy, who knows how to market a product. No, I am not talking about the hype and buzz that every of his movies create, but the way he presents the story. He makes it glamorous with all commercial ingredients carefully in a way that the soul is still retained despite the presence of item numbers, fights and sometimes love making scene too. Recall "Anjali", "Roja" and even his last "Yuva", if you had noticed carefully, the actual story comes in the second half only whereas all the commercial parts were in the first half. But when Mani Sir gave up his glossy techniques and stick honest to the story alone, we got a classic - Kannathil Mutthamittal (A peck in the cheek).
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"Kannathil..." was a mature attempt about terrorism in Sri Lanka but from the view point of a child, which makes it unique. I would say that this is the best film Maniratnam had ever directed. This is the movie in which Maniratnam had graduated from a commercial director to a master director. What I loved in the movie is its narrative structure. Honesty that slaps on your face. There is very much of reality in every inch of the story.{mosimage}Thiruchelvan (Madhavan) and his Indra (Simran) are blessed with 3 kids, Amudha (Keerthana) being the eldest followed by Akhil (Suraj Balajee) & Vinay. Amudha's life turns topsy turvy on her 9th B'Day, learning that she is actually an "adopted" child of the couple. She becomes insecure, wants to meet her biological mother desperately. Seeing her persistence, Karthik takes her to Sri Lanka and the kid meets her real mother (excellent cameo by Nandita Das), who happens to be a militant now, on the war front. The climax is simply mind blowing, a confrontation between the emotions, patriotism, policies and ofcourse own blood.
A word of warning:- Don't bother about the details like why Nandita becomes a militant, who was responsible for the clashes? Was Madhavan & Simran right in telling the birth secret to Keerthana so bluntly...etc. etc... Mani Sir was not here to make a documentry with facts and figures right. He didn't even try to preach or "investigate" the root cause problem in Sri Lanka also. Instead the movie focusses on the child's search for her mother, and the terrorism in her viewpoint. He just shocks the audiences with the blood, gore and injustice prevailing in the Sri Lanka soil through the eyes of a child.
Maniratnam gets into the story with immediately after the happy song, which is the only commercial aspect that sticks out like a sore thumb. There is a kind of intensity in the emotions through out the unlike Maniratnam's other movies. Whether it is the poetic "maranam eendra jananam nee..." (You mark a new birth in death) or Amudha after being informed about the secret asking "Ein maa naan unnai pola irukkeinnu poi sonne?" (Why did you lie me that I resemble you), the inability to digest the fact shows in the kid's tone.
P.S Keerthana, the star kid of Actors Parthiban & Seetha, is the soul of the movie, and had she faltered, the movie would have fallen flat. Infact, post credits, the movie opens from her point of view only. In the scene when she sees her actual mother and realises that none of her expectations had happened, her visual disappointment and eyes slowly brimming with tears, is absolutely wonderful. She deserved every inch her National Award for Best Child artiste that year.
{mosimage}The pick of the supporting cast is undeniably Simran followed by Nandita Das. I would say that this is one of the very few movies Simran had "acted". Even though she was a glamor queen then, she transformed completely into a demure house wife and a mother of three, cladded in simple cotton sarees. Her "voice" by TV artiste Deepa Venkat added to her performance. Nandita Das makes her presence even with the lesser footage she gets. She is the only one who manages to stand against Keerthana in the climax where everybody else were overshadowed. Madhavan is lost completely in the whole process and is a misfit for the role of a writer. Pasupathy, who hit a big time with "Dhool" & "Virumandi" later, was OK with the small role as Nandita Das' brother.
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